King. She does abuse our ears; to prison with her. Dia. Good mother, fetch my bail.-Stay, royal sir; [Exit Widow.

The jeweller, that owes 5 the ring, is sent for,
And he shall surety me. But for this lord,
Who hath abus'd me, as he knows himself,
Though yet he never harm'd me, here I quit him:
He knows himself, my bed he hath defil'd;
And at that time he got his wife with child :
Dead though she be, she feels her young one kick;
So there's my riddle, One, that's dead, is quick:
And now behold the meaning.

King.

Re-enter Widow, with HELENA.

Is there no exorcist"

Beguiles the truer office of mine eyes?

Is't real, that I see?

Hel.

No, my good lord;

"Tis but the shadow of a wife you see,

The name, and not the thing.

Ber.

Both, both; O, pardon! Hel. O, my good lord, when I was like this maid, I found you wond'rous kind. There is your ring, And, look you, here's your letter; This it says, When from my finger you can get this ring, And are by me with child, &c.-This is done : Will you be mine, now you are doubly won? Ber. If she, my liege, can make me know this clearly,

I'll love her dearly, ever, ever dearly.

Hel. If it appear not plain, and prove untrue, Deadly divorce step between me and you!

O, my dear mother, do I see you living?

Laf. Mine eyes smell onions, I shall weep anon: -Good Tom Drum, [To PAROLLES.] lend me a handkerchief: So, I thank thee; wait on me home, I'll make sport with thee: Let thy courtesies alone, they are scurvy ones.

King. Let us from point to point this story know, To make the even truth in pleasure flow :

If thou be'st yet a fresh uncropped flower,

[TO DIANA. Choose thou thy husband, and I'll pay thy dower; For I can guess, that, by the honest aid, Thou kept'st a wife herself, thyself a maid.— Of that, and all the progress, more and less, Resolvedly more leisure shall express: All yet seems well; and, if it end so meet, The bitter past, more welcome is the sweet.

Advancing.

The king's a beggar, now the play is done : All is well ended, if this suit be won,

[Flourish.

That you express content; which we will pay,
With strife to please you, day exceeding day:
Ours be your patience then, and yours our parts ;6
Your gentle hands lend us, and take our hearts.

[Exeunt.

6 i. e. Hear us without interruption, and take our parts, support and defend us.

This play has many delightful scenes, though not suf ficiently probable, and some happy characters, though not new, nor produced by any deep knowledge of human nature. Parolles is a boaster and a coward, such as has always been the sport of the stage, but perhaps never raised more laughter or contempt than in the hands of Shakspeare.

I cannot reconcile my heart to Bertram; a man noble without generosity, and young without truth; who marries Helen as a coward, and leaves her as a profligate: when she is dead by his unkindness, sneaks home to a second marriage, is accused by woman whom he has wronged, defends himself by falsehood, and is dismissed to happiness.

The story of Bertram and Diana had been told before of Mariana and Angelo, and, to confess the truth, scarcely merited to be heard a second time.

JOHNSON

TAMING

OF

THE SHREW.

PERSONS REPRESENTED.

A Lord.
Christopher Sly, a drunken tinker.
Hostess, Page, Players, Huntsmen and
other servants attending on the Lord.

Baptista, a rich gentleman of Padua.
Vincentio, an old gentleman of Pisa.

Persons in the
Induction.

Lucentio, son to Vincentio, in love with Bianca. Petruchio, a gentleman of Verona, a suitor to Katha

Pedant, an old fellow set up to personate Vincentio.

Katharina, the Shrew;

Bianca, her sister,

} daughters to Baptista.

Widow.

Tailor, Haberdasher, and Servants attending on Baptista and Petruchio.

SCENE, sometimes in Padua; and sometimes in Petruchio's House in the Country.